Earth moving machinery, such as excavators, shovel loaders, bulldozers, etc., has widespread use all over the world for performing a variety of missions. One example is large scale living neighborhood construction in which extensive ground preparation work is required. In such a mission, there is a need to operate one or more earth moving machines (hereinafter: “EMM”) for this purpose. Usually, the EMMs are humanly operated. A human operator drives the EMM to the construction site, and then controls and operates the EMM within the construction site until completion of the desired mission.
Such a mission, as well as other missions, may be long, routine, tedious and time consuming, preventing a human operator from maintaining a high level of performance and operation of an EMM. As a result, a mission's quality of performance may not be optimal. Furthermore, a human operator is unable to continuously operate earth moving machinery for long periods of time.
In addition, a human operator cannot calculate the optimal operation conditions of an EMM, and cannot operate the EMM in such optimal conditions throughout the entire mission. Such optimal operation depends on many parameters that a human operator is unable to process during operation of an EMM. An important disadvantage resulting from the inability to operate an EMM under optimal conditions is the reduction of earth moving machinery reliability and survivability and increasing the machinery's life cycle costs. Furthermore, the usage of a human operator itself has its costs, as an operator must be trained, paid for his work, etc. In many cases, missions may require prior mapping and staking of the mission area, which in itself is a time consuming task.
Other missions may be designed to be carried out, for example, in dangerous areas, noxious areas or in low visibility conditions. Thus, some missions may be very hazardous or even impossible for a human operator.
There is thus a need in the art to provide a system and method for autonomous operation of earth moving machinery.
Prior art references considered to be relevant as a background to the invention are listed below. Acknowledgement of the references herein is not to be inferred as meaning that these are in any way relevant to the patentability of the invention disclosed herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,110 (Rowe et al.) issued Apr. 24, 2001, discloses a modular architecture to organize and coordinate components that are needed to automate earthmoving tasks, and to coordinate the flow of data between the components. The architecture includes three main subdivisions: a sensor pipeline, sensor data consumers, and motion planners and executors. The sensor pipeline receives raw sensor data from perceptual sensors such as a laser rangefinder or radar system, and converts the data into a form which is usable by the other system components. Sensor data can also be represented in the form of an elevation map of the surrounding terrain for other software components to use. Any number and types of sensor systems may be added to the software architecture depending on requirements and the capabilities of the system. The sensor data consumers use the sensor data as input to specific algorithms to produce information regarding the machine's environment for use by other system components. A motion planner receives information provided by the sensor data consumers, and delivers output commands to controllers on the machine. The motion planner also computes and delivers commands to the sensor systems on the machine. Additional planners may be added at this level to coordinate other system behaviors and actions.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,632 (Stentz et al.) issued Apr. 2, 2002 discloses a system to organize and coordinate components associated with earthmoving machinery capable of performing excavating and loading tasks autonomously. The system comprises an earthmoving machine equipped with a scanning sensor system operable to provide data regarding regions within an earthmoving environment including an excavation region and a loading region and a planning and control module operable to receive data from the scanning sensor system to plan a task associated with the control of the earthmoving machine while concurrently performing another task associated with control of the earthmoving machine. Any number and type of sensor systems, such as a laser rangefinder or a radar rangefinder, may be incorporated in the system depending on requirements and the capabilities of the system. The sensor systems have independently controllable fields of view, with each sensor system being capable of providing data pertaining to a different portion of the earthmoving environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,516,563 (Koch) issued Apr. 14, 2009 discloses a control system for a machine operating at an excavation site. The control system may have a positioning device configured to determine a position of the machine, and a controller in communication with the positioning device. The controller may be configured to receive information regarding a predetermined task for the machine, receive the machine's position, and receive a location of an obstacle at the excavation site. The control system may also be configured to recommend placement of the machine to accomplish the predetermined task based on the received machine position and obstacle location.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,804 (Svendsen et al.) issued Mar. 3, 2009 discloses a system and method for multi-modal control of a vehicle. Actuators (e.g., linkages) manipulate input devices (e.g., articulation controls and drive controls, such as a throttle, brake, accelerator, throttle lever, steering gear, tie rods, or transmission shifter) to direct the operation of the vehicle. Behaviors that characterize the operational mode of the vehicle are associated with the actuators. After receipt of a mode select command that dictates the operational mode of the vehicle (e.g., manned operation, remote unmanned tele-operation, assisted remote tele-operation, and autonomous unmanned operation), the actuators manipulate the operator input devices, in accordance with the behaviors, to effect the desired operational mode.
US Patent application No. 2004/0158355 (Holmqvist et al.) published on Aug. 12, 2004 discloses intelligent systems and functions for autonomous load handling vehicles such as wheel-loaders operating within limited areas and industrial environments. The vehicle is provided with a laser-optic system for determining the vehicle's position in six degrees of freedom comprising x, y, z, heading, pitch and roll, in fixed to ground coordinates. This system is used for autonomous vehicle navigation and as reference for on board terrain mapping sensors and a dynamic terrain model. The admitted work area for autonomous vehicle operation is divided in loading, unloading and obstacle free zones, each with specific rules for the vehicle's behavior concerning mission planning, vehicle and implement movement and control, and obstacle detection and avoidance. The dynamic terrain model is employed for planning and analyzing paths, for detecting and avoiding obstacles, and for providing data for optimizing vehicle paths and the movements of its implements in loading and unloading operations.
The references cited in the background teach many principles of earth moving machines/systems/methods that are applicable to the present invention. Therefore the full contents of these publications are incorporated by reference herein for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.